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I'm sure you can tell by my username, I am a cat person-that's not to say that I don't like dogs. I have 2 but have had several over my lifetime. I had 4 very special furbabies at once but they have all crossed the Rainbow Bridge (sniff, sniff). I have also lost a few others, too and even though it has been a LONG time since they have crossed the bridge, I still miss ALL of them-I will always miss them.
To me, ANY animal companion is WONDERFUL! I can't imagine life without a cat or two (and I have talked Hubby into getting a 3rd one which we will in a few months). A few of my sibs do not have an animal companion and I just think, "how sad." They just enrich our lives.
Cat
My sister had a cat she'd gotten as a kitten for my niece. When my niece moved to another state, my sister still had the cat, and when I went to visit her one day, that cat climbed up on me and stayed there the whole time. My sister said, "I'm glad you're giving him attention. I'm just not an animal person." A little later in the conversation she was talking about my daughter and her friends and said something to the effect that "I'm just not a kid person." A little later she was talking about how some people from work wanted to go out but she didn't go because "I'm just not a people person." The whole time she's talking to me while I'm there, she was on her pc. She is a software engineer. A COMPUTER PERSON. My other two sisters have cats and dogs both.
She did feel bad when the cat got old and sick and she had to put him down. I think she's just the type to put up a wall around her emotions sometimes. It hurts like hell when we have to part with our animal friends, but isn't it worth it while they're with us?
I would like to have a dog in the future, but right now I have a long commute and often work long hours, and it wouldn't be fair to a dog that needs to be walked and played with more than I have time to do.
Geeze MQ- having to deal with texts like that, no wonder you 'got' my name, dealing I words all day long. Have you considered a digital voice recorder to 'tell' your story into during your long commute?
I am lame in the writing department. I have several ideas for books, but have not really worked at it. The only way I would probably get one done was to be locked in a room for 30 days.
I am also more of a cat person than a dog person, but in general, I am an animal person- obviously considering the zoo I have.
I'm a little jealous. A dear friend ended up with this super sweet and confident bunny. She cuddles and plays with their dogs, not a scaredy-bunny at all. I miss my house bunny. I am also missing having a goat or two, and pigs are also fun.
Nature has been such a major part of my life since the beginning. My father was a scientist, an Entomologist. He discovered a butterfly somewhere in Central America. And he wrote a book about butterflies of Central America. He was also into ants. We often would have some sort of living insect hanging about -but always a bedroom full of dead ones displayed in drawers.
I tend to be a slight practical joker; I would freak out my friends using my dad's collection. The drawer with the giant rhinoceros beetles was under the drawer with the giant blue butterflies. I'm sure you can image how things went down.
That sounds like fun! My father lost both his legs below the knee in WWII so we always had extra sets of prosthetic legs hanging around, and that's what I used to freak out MY friends. I had one friend who was terrified of his artificial legs and I used to take one and chase her with it and make it kick her just to hear her scream. We didn't have the bug collection, alas. But before the war, Dad had been a boy scout and a hiker and nature lover, and it's only in recent years that I realize how much he pointed out to us in the backyard and the woods behind our house because I can identify a lot of trees by their bark and leaves, as well as different types of birds, and I've found that other people don't know this stuff. I was fortunate.
The only problem with the voice recorder idea is that I'd get dirty looks on the train, lol. But I am better at setting time aside for writing now. I tend to be an all-or-nothing person, and I've realized that things don't have to be that way. Sometimes I give myself 15 minutes in the evening now to sit down and WRITE, and I'm amazed how much that accumulates. Also, since I'm trying to write a historical novel, I spend a lot of time looking things up. For example, one day my character struck a match. I thought, "Wait. Could he do that in 1859?" After about an hour, I knew everything about the history of matches. And yes, he could.
Goats and pigs wouldn't work in the condo complex where I am, but I'm not far from farms where I can go see them. My sister lives in the country in Pennsylvania, and she's had pigs and goats and chickens and horses over the years.
Bunnies are so cute. My boss had a pet bunny she kept in her bathroom. It died about seven years ago, and she still tears up when talking about him. I've never had one.
We had guinea pigs when my daughter was growing up. I loved them, and when I go to the pet shop to get the cat food and litter, I always stop to look at the piggies. Her last one died when she was a senior in high school, and she decided not to get another since she'd be leaving for college. Oh, and there was an iguana for a while, too. He was a rescue and had some sort of disease where it ate away part of his jaw, but we gave him a happy home for a few years until he went to the Great Desert.
OH, and I forgot about the frogs! When my daughter was little, she wanted to be like Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, except with amphibians. So we had an assortment of frogs over the years. In the end, Ricky Ricardo the Cuban Tree Frog ate Jade, the Green Tree Frog, and he died shortly after, and that was the end of our frog collection.
Cat- The mandala us from a picture of giant bamboo that I took. I selected a pie slice of the image and flip-flopped it until I had a complete circle.
TD- I have a Jack Rat. She's one of those dogs that jumps into your arms. She sort of cheats, using the thought to get that extra distance. Her grandmother had a soot just like your Jack.
I said, but never did, for halloween I wanted to color her green, put a small white circle inside her spot with the number '8' inside the white circle.
Ah Jack Russles...
One place I rented, they had a shepard/lab mix and a little Jack Russel. The shepard lab mix was bouncy and liked to play and was smart. But he didn't mess with the fence or the lawn chairs. The little dog loved being in the yard way much over in the house. He also chewed the cusions on the plastic lawn chairs up then the legs on the chair, and had found a spot he could dig himself out of the yard. When it got filled, he found another. The shepard/lab ran away when he barked at him. They are smart little critters. They loved him too, though they were going to try digging wire under the fence and see if that would stump him.
I have a shepard terrier something long legged mix. I can hold his harness standing up next to him. We double fenced the one side of the yard so I can do a garden and keep him out but he's found a spot the fence can be pushed up about six inches. To see a dog that big scrunch himself down and get under the fence is very amazing. But they sell stakes with big long wires so his scrunching days may soon be over. Or he'll find a new spot.
All animals are wonderful. But Jacks are really special. My Ben and I have bonded in a way I would have considered unfathomable when he first arrived in my life.
We also share our house with my gf's pair of 14-year-old cats. They're brothers but couldn't have more different personalities. I've known them for going on 10 years now, so certainly consider them as part of my pack.
Sadly, when I moved up here last fall to Ontario's near-north, I left Lucy, my 15-year-old African Grey Parrot behind with my son in my old house. Greys have a lifespan of 55+ years. I thought it best she spend her days in a familiar location, with a familiar face who is likely to match or exceed her lifespan, rather than have to deal with my death while she's still youngish. I visit them fairly often though and the transition is working out well. She's happy to see me and hardly ever bites my son anymore.
I'm one of those bird nuts who has several feeders on the go. This particularly harsh winter has seen us become foster parents (read: "buffet providers) for about 35 bluejays, a dozen chickadees, a few nuthatches, sparrows, juncos, mourning doves, a couple of squirrels and several whitetail deer. (The deer, although not averse to munching birdseed, are given a corn/oats/molasses concoction that we can buy in 50lb. bags.)
Animals have always played a prominent role in my life and now that I'm retired and living in a very wildlife-friendly part of the world, I can indulge my passion for learning about them all day, most every day.
Hey TroutDude, if it's okay I might come and join your thread. My fellow heathens play their cards close to their chests when it comes to personal stuff. They just want to talk about atheism all the time.
I swear if one more person asks what is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic I will throw my laptop through the window.
I just came along to say good luck with the new chat thread. I might be along later to talk about my brand new puppy!
I swear if one more person asks what is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic I will throw my laptop through the window.
People are seriously that lazy? That they ask this and await and answer instead of using a dictionary? They don't even need to get up and go to a bookshelf, they can access a dictionary online...
Wow....I'd want to throw something too, just not my laptop.
Hey TroutDude, if it's okay I might come and join your thread. My fellow heathens play their cards close to their chests when it comes to personal stuff. They just want to talk about atheism all the time.
I swear if one more person asks what is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic I will throw my laptop through the window.
I just came along to say good luck with the new chat thread. I might be along later to talk about my brand new puppy!
So, what is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic? Just kidding.
An atheist does not ask questions and agnostics ask all the questions.
Good answer, good answer.
Cat
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My other two sisters have cats and dogs both.
